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TMNT
Movie Review
March 26, 2007
Directed by Kevin Munroe
Starring the voices of James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, Mitchell Whitfield,
Mikey Kelley, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Chris Evans, Mako, Patrick Stewart, Zhang
Ziyi, and Laurence Fishburne.
Backstory
It appears as though the end of 80's nostalgia has arrived. Those who
study those things always said that a return of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
would mark the end of 80's nostalgia, as they were the last big thing from that
decade. Throw in the current surge of comic book adaptations, and it
seemed as thought the world was primed for a new TMNT movie.
Plot
The Shredder has long been defeated, and the Foot Clan a shadow of its former
glory. Without this unifying threat, the Ninja Turtles are a family
divided. Leonardo is in Central America, furthering his training, but it's
turned into a self-imposed exile. Raphael has become a masked vigilante
called the Nighwatcher, and fights crime in a more brutal fashion.
Donatello works tech support, and Michelangelo does kids birthday parties.
But Leo soon decides its time to come home, and old sibling rivalries come to a
head. But there's a new evil in town. Industrialist Max Winters and
a quartet of stone generals are rounding up 13 monsters to open a doorway to
another dimension. Will the Ninja Turtles be able to patch up their
differences in time to save the day?
What I Liked
Ever since the first trailer, I've been screaming that the Ninja Turtles were
MADE for computer animation, and the whole move just continues to prove that.
And I'm really glad they went the Batman Begins route. By keeping the
well-known arch-enemy out of it, they were able to focus on our heroes and what
makes them tick. Plus, the fight scenes kicked ass.
What I Didn't Like
The animation, while good, wasn't quite Pixar-perfect. A few superhero
movie clichés did rear their ugly heads. And I seem to be the only one
that noticed that composer Klaus Badelt recycled a lot of his Catwoman score for
this movie. I found it very distracting to hear Catwoman's theme whenever
Raphael was strutting around.
Final Assessment
It was just great seeing the heroes on a half-shell on the big screen again.
Bring on our sequel with Shredder!
3
Nibs
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